Russian forces in Chechnya arbitrarily detain, torture, and kill civilians
in a climate of lawlessness, Human Rights Watch said today. In a 51-page
report, Human
Rights Watch details a series of military sweep operations during which it
found hundreds of men were arbitrarily detained, dozens tortured, and at
least six extrajudicially executed.

Russian forces in Chechnya
arbitrarily detain, torture, and kill civilians in a climate of lawlessness,
Human Rights Watch said today. In a 51-page report, Human Rights Watch
details a series of military sweep operations during which it found hundreds
of men were arbitrarily detained, dozens tortured, and at least six
extrajudicially executed.

"For a year now Russian authorities have been claiming that the situation
in Chechnya is returning to normal," said Elizabeth Andersen, executive
director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division. "But in
fact civilians face a daily threat of being arbitrarily detained, tortured,
or just 'disappearing' in custody. That's a far cry from 'normal.'"

The report, titled
Swept Under: Torture, Forced Disappearances, and Extrajudicial Killings
During Sweep Operations in Chechnya, documents abuses during sweep
operations that took place in June and July 2001 in the villages
Alkhan-Kala, Sernovodsk, and Assinovskaia. In a sweep operation, Russian
forces, responding to Chechen rebel hostilities, typically seal off a
village and run identity checks and searches of residents. The operations in
mid-2001 took place against a backdrop of Russian government pledges to
withdraw troops and return internally displaced persons safely to their
homes, even as clashes continued between Russian forces and Chechen rebels.
Since July 2001, Russian forces have conducted dozens more sweep operations
throughout Chechnya, committing many of the same abuses described in the
report.

Among the cases detailed is that of "Magomed Asanukaev,"(not the man's
true name) whom Russian forces detained in the Sernovodsk sweep on July 2.
They threw him in a truck with no explanation, held him in a concrete pit,
and tortured him with electric shocks, attempting to coerce information
about rebel fighters. He was later released, but others were not. Zelimkhan
Umkhanov and Apti Isigov "disappeared" after Russian forces took them into
custody; relatives to this day have been unable to get information from
Russian forces about their whereabouts. On June 21 Russian forces
apprehended Rustam Razhepov, 35, and Daud Vitaev, 27, during the Alkhan-Kala
operation; their corpses were found in an unmarked grave on June 22.

Andersen noted that a Human Rights Watch follow-up mission to the region
in December discovered that the human rights situation had further
deteriorated. "Over the last six months, civilians in Chechnya have
'disappeared' at a rate of more than one every week," she said. The Russian
human rights group Memorial documented more than twenty "disappearances" in
December 2001 alone.

Meanwhile, Andersen said, Chechnya has fallen off the map in the
post-September 11 foreign policy climate. "Governments don't have the
political will to make genuine accountability for crimes against civilians a
benchmark for their Russia policy," said Andersen. "And this message hasn't
been lost on the Kremlin. The carte blanche for violence against civilians
is shattering whatever trust Chechens have had in Moscow, torpedoing peace
efforts, and ultimately undermining Russia as a credible partner in the
international war against terrorism."

The current climate of lawlessness in Chechnya, Andersen said, follows
from a long-standing failure by Russian authorities to bring abusive forces
to justice. Many Chechen civil servants who cooperate with Moscow threatened
to quit after the summer sweep operations, prompting Moscow to acknowledge
abuses and promise an investigation. The Human Rights Watch report says
investigations, principally into property damage, in the Sernovodsk
operation are ongoing. To date, no comprehensive investigation is under way
with regard to the Alkhan-Kala sweep.

Responding to criticism about the winter sweep operations, Vladimir
Kalamanov, President Putin's special representative on human rights in
Chechnya said on January 31 that he was "pleased by the pace of
investigations" into crimes by servicemen against civilians," and vowed that
"no crime would be left unpunished."

"Without ongoing engagement by the international community, Russia will
be able to continue issuing empty promises of justice," said Andersen.

Human Rights Watch urged the United Nations Commission on Human Rights,
which will convene in March, to adopt a resolution condemning ongoing
violations in Chechnya and called on Russia to allow U.N. special
rapporteurs on torture and on extrajudicial executions to conduct
investigations in Chechnya. Human Rights Watch also called on the Bush
administration to raise the matter with the Russian government. President
Bush is expected to visit Moscow in May.

The number of bodies found in a mass grave that was unearthed near the
Chechen capital of Grozny on Sunday has risen to 48, the Russian news
agency Interfax reports.

The grave was found in wasteland, one kilometre from the Russian base
at Khankala, on the outskirts of the capital Grozny.

Previous estimates had put the number of dead at 28.

"Practically all of the dead were men of fighting age," said Chechen
prosecutor Vsevolod Chernov.

"Most of them had gunshot wounds and bandages".

"The majority of the dead were probably rebels," he added, saying that
this was indicated by the internationally made camouflage and Turkish
underwear that many were wearing.

Accused of abuses

The Russian authorities have long accused the Chechen separatists of
obtaining supplies and recruits from Islamic organisations in countries
such as Turkey.

However, eyewitness accounts quoted by the Russian human rights group
Memorial claim that the bodies found in the grave were those of civilians,
not separatist fighters.

Human rights organisations have repeatedly accused the Russian military
of rights abuses in Chechnya.

The report on the mass grave came as the first trial of a soldier
accused of carrying out atrocities in Chechnya was adjourned due to the
ill health of the defendant.

Accidental killing

Colonel Yuri Budanov stands accused of kidnapping and murdering a young
Chechen woman.

He denies murdering her, saying that he killed Elza Kungayeva by
accident in the course of an "anti-terrorist operation" in her village.

Colonel Budanov denies murder

He fell ill on Thursday with a heart problem and high blood pressure.

Since his condition has not improved, the North Caucasus Military
District court has adjourned the trial in Rostov-on-Don, southern Russia
until Monday.

The court had earlier rejected a request by the victim's family for the
trial to be moved to Strasbourg or Chechnya because of pro-Budanov
far-right protesters outside the court building.

The trial is seen as a key test of Russia's resolve to end human rights
abuses by federal soldiers.

More bodies in Chechen mass grave

Reports from Moscow say that the number of bodies found in a mass grave
outside the Chechen capital, Grozny, last week has risen to forty-eight.

The prosecutor of the pro-Russian administrator in Chechnya, Vsevolod
Chernov, told the Interfax news agency that investigators had finished
examining the site and had concluded that most of the bodies were likely
to be of Chechen fighters.

The Chechen rebel leader, Aslan Maskhadov, says Chechen forces have
discovered a number of mass graves of alleged victims of Russian
atrocities.

The Chechenpress news agency said seventy bodies had been discovered in
a pit near a Grozny cannery and another thirteen near an oil well in the
village of Novyye Aldy.